Mozilla's 'Ubiquity' Ties Content Together

Mozilla Labs on Tuesday introduced a language-based add-on for its Firefox browser that lets users insert data into e-mails or navigate the Web without switching back and forth between multiple windows.

Mozilla Labs on Tuesday introduced a language-based add-on for its Firefox browser that lets users insert data into e-mails or navigate the Web without switching back and forth between multiple windows.

Ubiquity 0.1 is an "experiment into connecting the Web with language," Mozilla Lab's Aza Raskin wrote in a blog post. "Most people do not have an easy way to manage the vast resources of the Web to simplify their task at hand. For the most part they are left trundling between web sites, performing common tasks resulting in frustration and wasted time."

The prototype application is available for download now on the blog post.

In its current form, Ubiquity offers several features, including the ability to add maps and Yelp reviews into e-mail without navigating away from the e-mail message or opening another browser tab.

If you're typing an e-mail inviting a friend to meet you for dinner, type the address or name of the restaurant into the pop-up box, and Ubiquity will produce a Google map of the area. Zoom in or out to your desired view, click "insert map into page" and the map will appear in the body of the e-mail.

Want to add more information about the restaurant? Open the Ubiquity window, type "Yelp restaurant name" and it will produce reviews written on Yelp.com. Hit return and the entry will be inserted into the e-mail.

Ubiquity will also add the event to your calendar.

The tutorial on Mozilla used Gmail, but the service also worked with other Web-based e-mail services like Yahoo. Hotmail had difficulty rendering the mapping images.

Ubiquity is "very experimental and prototypical; the interface isn't quite right [and there's] lots of room for improvement, but I think this is a big win already," Raskin said during a video tutorial.

Ubiquity is not just an e-mail application, however. Raskin pointed to apartment listings in Craigslist. Highlight several selections, open Ubiquity, type "map these" and Ubiquity will pull address information from the listings and produce a map that plots all their locations.

This feature is currently only available via Craigslist but Ubiquity will eventually "be able to take micro-formats and mash them up everywhere  to map, to plot, to see data in the way you want to see it," Raskin said.

Ubiquity will also translate content from international Web sites. Want to e-mail that translated text or English text from any other site? Highlight it, open Ubiquity, type "e-mail Chloe," hit return, and the app will open up an e-mail with the selected content.

Ubiquity allows you to type in the names of people you wish to e-mail rather than their e-mail address, pulling the addresses from your contacts list. That feature is still a bit buggy, as it sometimes pulled old e-mail addresses that were no longer in use without giving the option to select a more updated address that was also in the contact list.

Also available is the option to define words or pull up Wikipedia entries. Type words directly into Ubiquity ("define ubiquity") or highlight text on a Web site, open Ubiquity and type "define" or "Wikipedia." Learned something new? Connect to Twitter via Ubiquity and share with friends.

"This release is meant as an illustration of a concept and mainly focuses on the platform," Raskin wrote. "The next release will explore interfaces that are closer to features that might make it into Firefox."

The Mozilla blog also includes a link to an author tutorial that will allow developers to write commands for Ubiquity.

Chloe Albanesius has been with PCMag.com since April 2007, most recently as Executive Editor for News and Features. Prior to that, she worked for a year covering financial IT on Wall Street for Incisive Media. From 2002 to 2005, Chloe covered technology policy for The National Journal's Technology Daily in Washington, DC. She has held internships at NBC's Meet the Press, washingtonpost.com, the Tate Gallery press office in London, Roll Call, and Congressional Quarterly. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in journalism from American University...
More »